run girl run!

Today was my 9th half-marathon. I think in most worlds that makes me a "runner" but I still don't feel like one. I honestly didn't train as much as I should have (shocker) although I ran a little more than usual between races. My longest run was 7 1/2 miles last Sunday. Yep, that's it. So just for the record, if you think you can't do a half-marathon...you can! It's not easy but you just keep going and don't worry about the time.

That's what I did today and, low and behold, I got a PR (personal record), PB (personal best)...whatever! my best time ever in a half! 2:19:44. Kind of blah in the eyes of most real runners, I know. The female winner did it in 1:20. Dang, girl! The marathon winner passed me (for the third year in a row) which means some guy ran twice as far in the same amount of time! But this year, he passed me as I turned into the Gateway which was about a half-mile later than last year. Next year, not passing me. But no matter what, I'm happy and super proud of my time!

Scott asked me...what did you do to get that kind of number today? I have no good reason, really. It was cool and overcast. That was a plus, in spite of the fact we were freaking out that it was raining as we pulled up at Natalie's house. I felt like I was going to crap my pants for about the first 6 miles in spite of taking 4 imodium (yes, FOUR! I may not poop again till Wednesday.) That was a HUGE minus. I seriously thought I was going to have to pull over somewhere, anywhere, but I didn't want to take time out to hit a port-a-potty or wait in line at one of the gas stations so I just toughed it out.
The course is all downhill, mostly. That was a plus. Except for the last 2 miles which are mostly uphill - some places just a little incline, one place it's pretty steep. That's just mean after 11+ miles.

So I'm not sure what made today the day I did good for no reason but I'll take it. I think most of it was mental...I wanted to PR and I did. It was definitely tough to get the time right because my Garmin watch-battery crapped out just before the start of the race and I couldn't get my Map My Run to log in on my phone so I had no clue about my pace or anything. It was all just "feeling it." I did force myself not to stop and walk the last three miles which is my usual MO. I kept thinking I might beat my best time...I have to push, push, push!

I had a great time running with Tiff and Natalie - our 3rd SL half together - and Greg and Christi who used today as a training run for their full marathon in 2 weeks. They usually run on a track in Park City. Where it takes NINE laps to make a mile. And they ran 20 miles last week on said track. They had to make a pit stop about half-way but otherwise I think we'd have been right there, or beat me. And they were awesome to run with. HIGH-larious!

Uber-thanks to all of the volunteers (Carrie!) and anyone who played music, had a sign, a drum, bacon or a cowbell, or just hollered "way to go!" as we were running. That kind of stuff makes me have faith in humanity and inspires me to do everything I can possibly do! So today was a huge woo-hoo moment for me on many levels!

And I got another medal.

(p.s. favorite runner that I did not get a picture of? This big dude with a speedo whose back said "dignity? no, donations to animal adoption." Kind of love that guy for many reasons!)

flashback: divine intervention

Last year, on January 15th (1 year and 3 months ago), I got a random, out of the blue email from a lady I worked with for about a minute. I was so impressed by her skills, not to mention her fashion sense and striking resemblance to Meg Ryan. When Harry Met Sally Meg Ryan. My favorite. 

Bear in mind that Scott and I had just started thinking about, kind of sort of noodling the idea of going for baby number two, getting back into the adoption process - assuming that we'd be super lucky to get a baby in a year or two. It's a huge, drama process and we had it pretty easy but it's lots of money, lots of stress and the kind of thing that becomes easy to put off because, let's face it, it's hard and it's scary.

I honestly don't even know how how "Meg" got my email address; it had changed since I left our company and I hadn't communicated with her for years. So in a 'you've got mail' moment in January I get this...

On 1/15/10 12:45 PM, "Meg" wrote:

Hi Lisa,

I hope you remember me...you interviewed and helped to select me at (the ad agency) ...remember? smile. It's been awhile and I'm no longer with (them) but I am hopeful to get your advice.

I am writing because I am curious if you might help me navigate the adoption process in Utah? My niece is unexpectedly expecting a baby girl (she is 4.5 months pregnant) and has made the hard decision to give her up for adoption. She doesn't know where to start and which agencies to work with and how to ensure a good family adopts her and etc. and I thought to email you for advice. IF you have time, please let me know your thoughts and I hope you and yours...especially your little boy!...are doing great in 2010!

Wow. Are you kidding me?! That's an email you don't expect to get in the middle of the day, out of the blue. I was floored. And had no idea exactly how floored to appear. Right?! I mean what do you say to someone who has just told you they have a pot of gold and don't know what to do with it? The following email response probably took two hours to craft. Easy.

It’s so funny that you sent that email! We are actually just starting the adoption process again, like seriously just starting to fill out all of the paperwork. So, of course, my first response is WE WANT HER! And, yes, I am serious! Okay so let me switch gears from selfish to helpful. ;-) So I obviously don’t know a ton about the adoption process from the birth mother’s side of things. We used Open Heart / Children’s Service Society and they were fabulous. Very small agency but we really liked our coordinator and that’s important. I would be happy to get her the contact information. I also have a couple of friends that just did direct placements – adopted a troubled relative’s child kind of thing – but I’m not sure how that works legally. I’ll put in a couple of calls over the weekend and see what I can find out about how it all works. Do you want me to call you? Or her? 

I have to tell you that we are really enjoying being parents! It’s so awesome and we feel so blessed to have this little guy in our life. Tagg is almost 1 1/2 and he’s the most amazing thing. We’re still in touch with his birth parents and their families and it’s such a special relationship. It’s so heart-warming to see them enjoying high school (oh, yes, they were young!) and succeeding in school and sports. They always send little gifts and email updates and we send them pictures and updates. I think it’s great that he’ll always know that they made the hardest decision ever because they loved him and wanted the best for him. Hopefully, we’re living up to the promises that we made to them to give him a great life and take care of him. We love him more than anything! Blubber, blubber...now I’m all teary eyed talking about it! Any way, I’m sure your niece is really struggling with the decision but hopefully she’ll understand what an amazing thing she’s doing and that she’ll have a similar experience. We’re happy to help in any way!

Alright! Enough! I’ll do my homework and touch base with you next week! Take care! Hope things are going well!

And four months later, we had our baby Sloane. Miracles can happen from an email.

backstage at the photo shoot

Backstage at the photo shoot during the cupcake carnage.

We did Sloane's first birthday photos today (a month early but at least the pix will be ready in time to send cards and stuff, right?) with Jodi from A Yummy Life. She's amazing. Even helped pick out some photo-worthy clothing options for photo-worthy-clothing challenged me.

Sloane was insanely good. Tolerated five costume changes without a fuss including headgear, in spite of the fact that she hadn't had a nap all day. Impressive! Tagg was really good too, courtesy of the balloons, and the bribe of a potential cupcake at the end of the shoot. He owed me one. Apparently he hit a little girl at the park today and got timeout. Finally starting to figure out that the "timeout" rule applies to everyone, not just his sister!

I bought a few outfits for the photos, brought every single headwear, headband, flower thing I could find, and bought a little bouquet of flowers, balloons and a dozen over-priced jumbo cupcakes for the photos. All totally worth it! I can't wait to see the final outcome!

ten years today...

I found out I had cancer 10 years ago today. I think. Would you ever think that you wouldn't remember the exact day you got that call? I didn't. But I don't. I can't remember if it was the 11th or the 13th. I remember the day I found out I was cancer-free. August 13th, 2001. But the day I was diagnosed is just some random day in the middle of April.

The day I found out, I was at work at Huddleston Malone Design. I'd had my colonoscopy a few days before and I'd been having this nagging feeling that something was definitely not right for a few months. I even signed up for AFLAC cancer insurance about 3 days before I got tested. (Let me just say, I hadn't even paid a premium and thought if anything came of the test, they would pull the pre-existing condition card. They never did. As a matter of fact, AFLAC paid every claim with no grumping, groaning, hassle or anything. It was amazing and it saved us while I was going through treatment! I am a HUGE fan of the duck! Until he started making fun of Japan...but I still love the insurance!)

So the phone rang that spring day, and I answered, and the doctor's office said, "The polyps tested positive for cancer. Can you visit a colorectal surgeon this afternoon?" Are you shitting me? You just told me I have cancer over the phone. While I'm at work?! I don't know a better way to do it, but that sucked.

"Sure," I said. And then I went to a meeting. I'm serious. Because, you know, nothing had changed after that phone call and if I just pretended life was fine, it would be fine. I didn't even call Scott or my family and tell them. Denial, anyone? About halfway through the meeting I had to leave and I called Scott and told him and then tried to navigate the drive home through tears and shock and stuff.

I mean, what the hell! I was supposed to be getting married in a few months. So, with chemo and stuff I'd be skinny but bald? Not good! And let's not forget...this is CANCER. The big C. When you do the whole "till death do you part" business during the ceremony, you don't already want to have cancer in the mix. Tragic.

Ten years ago today might be the worst day ever. I'm glad it's all working out so that every day since is pretty much the best day ever.

shoe fetish

As evidenced by he fact that I own a pair of zebra striped, real hair, peep toe pumps, I have a small problem with shoes. And boots. And running shoes. And flip flops. I love them. I don’t know why, can’t explain it, but I love them. So I buy them, and lots of them. Luckily, I’m not super picky about brands. Apparently I’m a quantity over quality gal. Why buy 500 dollar Manolos when I can by like 5 pairs of Jessica Simpson or Skechers for the same price, hmmm? I know the answer, shoe snobs, I’m just too…uh, thrifty to go for the good stuff!. Yeah, so here’s my shoe closet.  

And my boot closet (you may remember this from the blog about Hoarding Hoarders. I wonder if it would look better if the shoes were on racks or something.)

And my flip-flop cubby. And my cool shoes I don’t really wear but can’t give away closet.

If I wore a pair a day, I could probably go for about 4 months and never wear the same pair twice.

So, I realize now that I am passing on my shoe addiction to my children (if it’s the only one, whew! but poor Sloane has no hope. Unless she totally rebels and just wears Toms and Converse her whole life.)

The sliver Nike "go-fast" shoes and
Woody cowboy boots and Reef flops like daddy's
are part of the donation.

I packed up about 25 pairs of 0-12 month little boy shoes in a basket, put a bow on it and delivered it to Michelle as a “Welcome, baby Finn” gift. Sure they’re used but that’s probably like 300 bucks worth of shoes! I wish someone had done that for me. Last week, bundled up 20+ pairs of 12-24 month shoes - another 300 bucks - and gave them away. Good hell! I never knew that kid shoes were such an investment

Some days I look at all the shoes and go…well, kid, it’s your college or my retirement. We’ll see!

first, first birthday

Aunt Tiff had a little one-year-old fiesta at her house. This was technically for Harper since her birthday was a few days passed. We didn't feel too badly about the belated celebration as the birthday girl was actually in California enjoying SeaWorld, the San Diego Zoo, the beach and 70 degree weather. Not too shabby for a first birthday!

Harper was kind enough to let Sloane share in her b-day festivities. They are just 5 weeks apart so it's kind of a joint celebration no matter how you slice it. So how do the girls party? Diapers? Check. Baby bundt cakes? Check. Tubby immediately after? Check.

We didn't get pictures but Harper slapped Sloane on her diaper bum leaving a big red velvet cake handprint. Classic. Both girls stood up on the table and at one point Harper was dancing. Becky said, "I hope this is the last time time my daughter does a naked table dance." Amen sister! I can only imagine the hijinks the cousin-twins get up to in years to come!

the sunday-snowday bbq

Roger, Sonal and Jenn enjoying the sun on
Jenn & Chris' deck at the new house.

We headed up to Park City on Sunday for a long overdue barbecue with our friends. They have 4 boys between them, age 7 to 14 months so we all fit right in. I still have no idea how people do it with more than one or two kids. Seriously, we had SIX under the age of seven, pretty close to what Scott's family, and it was nuts. Pushing, screaming, running, fighting over toys, let's not even talk about the after-dinner clean up under the dining room table. Impressive. Crazy but impressive! The weather decided to help us out...by snowing all weekend. Fortunately, the weather cleared up right when we arrived so we got the best of both worlds. Snowballs, sunshine... and burgers on the grill outside!

 

Tagg was a big fan of the snow. Even after he lost his shoes in a snow bank, he still ran around for a few minutes in his socks. 

Sloane and her first boyfriends...Will's pushing her
around the kitchen on a bike and Tyler is keeping an eye out.

Will finally got the foam hammer away from Sloane after she had beaten everyone including the dog with it. Poor Will already had a fat lip when we got there (hazard of being a new walker) so we were happy he was in charge of the weapon for change.

How cute are these two kids?! Four months apart. Apparently Will already has lots of girlfriend's but Sloane's not one to give up without a fight! We had a great time and all of us were very happy to start the festivities at 3 in the afternoon so we could get kids to bed at a reasonable time. That's good times when you're parenting!

a pinch of salt...

Eggs n cheese!

My lovely sister gave me a very cool gift for my birthday. I didn't realize exactly how cool it was until today. We went to a cooking class at Lugano, a charming Italian restaurant in Salt Lake that idolizes local, organic food and the art of dining. We were there with about 5 other people - a small class apparently - and had no idea what to expect. The theme was "spring produce" which was made a little challenging since it had been snowing for about a week and was dumping snow the whole time we were there. Still, there was a counter full of fresh greens and cheese and eggs, a full compliment of wine and espresso to start the meal. Off to a good start! 

Asparagus flan? Sounds gross. Looks yummy.
Verdict: WAS yummy!

The asparagus flan, finished version.
The blue cheese crumble in the bottom
was the over-the-top moment.

We made asparagus flan. Disgusting, right? That's what I thought! A. I do not like flan. B. How could nasty flan be made better with chunks of asparagus? I have to say, I was happily surprised by the outcome...it was like a little fluffy omelet with a little hit of bleu cheese melted on the top. I am now a flan fan.

Then Chef Greg whipped up some appies (he must have heard my stomach growling) - bruschetta with grilled  asparagus and braised greens and mascarpone cheese. So yummy! Hard to eat but delish! By now I was starting to realize that the key to good cooking is as follows: fresh, good ingredients, a really kick-ass knife, garlic, good olive oil and salt. And then more garlic.

Speaking of olive oil, that was the first thing we did. Tasted olive oil. Yep. He passed around two BOWLS of different olive oils, one from California and one from Spain and we dipped a spoon and took a slurp. Of olive oil. I can honestly say that I never, EVER thought I would eat straight olive oil off a spoon. But it was interesting, like wine tasting interesting, where you can actually taste different intensity, finishes, spices, and so on. Don't worry. I'm not about to start serving straight olive oils at any dinner parties.

We also made a roasted beet salad. For the record, I do not like beets. I pretty much hate them. They looked beautiful going into this salad, which also had fresh basil and blue cheese. The finished product? Looked like a work of art. Still smelled like canned beets. I ate some of the yellow ones and they were pretty good. There was a woman at our class from Costa Rica and she said that she had grown up on boiled, pureed beets and hated them. This dish changed her mind. I'm not all the way there, but close.

We made a citrus/clementine salad with grilled shrimp which was amazingly simply yet delicious. My favorite dish of the day, followed closely by (never thought I would say this) the flan!

Overall, a very cool experience which I would love to do again. My only critique is that I wish the attendees had been more engaged, with the cooking and each other. There were about 3 of us from my generation, the rest were more like my parents. Most of them were feverishly taking notes, on what I'm not sure. All very cool people but I didn't feel like we got warmed up before the cooking started and so the conversation during the meal was a little stunted. No matter what, we had a ball. Highly recommend it! We are starting to plan our next class or wine pairing dinner now. Want in?

Happy cooking!